


Hide out

by Enoisha



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Assassin AU, Bro is abusive, Bro is homophobic, Dave and Bro are assassins, Dave n Karkat are soulmates, How sad., I'll add more tags later, Internalized Homophobia, Karkat and Kanaya are moirails, M/M, On Hiatus, POV Dave Strider, Soulmate AU, Trolls on Earth, anjjhfersgh actually all ships in here are a pair of soulmates, but like very, i think???, if not all - Freeform, it's official now, more people will show up soon, most of the trolls are in a group against the Condesce, oh fuck i forgot, unless it's moiralligence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-06 16:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15198599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enoisha/pseuds/Enoisha
Summary: Your name is DAVE STRIDER. You’ve just turned 18 eight months ago, you still haven’t met your SOULMATE, and you work as an ASSASSIN with your BRO. Speaking of which, your bro, just yesterday, said that you had another job today. Specifically, the first job that you’ll be doing all on your own. According to him, the person you’ve been assigned to is a male troll around your age. This troll’s name is Karkat Vantas, and his assassination has been ordered for the following: mutant blood color, being apart of a group who’s against the Empress, and causing the death of many of those who protected the Empress against their group's past attacks. Although, for some reason, you don't really want to kill him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I got a weird idea to mash an assassin AU with a soulmate AU,, so here we go.  
> AEGHCHVJHF IT TOOK ME 20 MINUTES TO DECIDE TO POST THIS,,,, HMMM  
> I’m very sorry if this isn’t accurate. Tell me some stuff in the comments if it’s bad and I might shift my story. also, grammar help is immensely appreciated. Thanks for reading if you do! I haven't really written fanfiction before, so it's probably not too good??? Lemme know if it's not in character or something,, Even though this is really just for myself, I do care that y'all enjoy this!! Thanks again

Your name is DAVE STRIDER. You’ve just turned 18 eight months ago, you still haven’t met your SOULMATE, and you work as an ASSASSIN with your BRO. Speaking of which, your bro, just yesterday, said that you had another job today. Specifically, the first job that you’ll be doing all on your own. According to him, the person you’ve been assigned to is a male troll around your age. This troll’s name is Karkat Vantas, and his assassination has been ordered for the following: mutant blood color, being apart of a group  against the Empress, and causing the death of many of those who protected the Empress against their group's past attacks. Although, there have been many rumors that he had nothing to do with it, and he only deals with protests. Apparently, he’s actually only co-leader of the said group, and his death is supposed to be a threat towards their leader. You feel bad about killing him for these reasons, but they’d probably be caught by the Empress’s culling drones in the future eventually, so it’s not like it matters. Also the fact you yourself might get “culled” if you didn’t accept.

Moving on, you quickly get out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, and wait around until Bro finally returns to the apartment. When he gets there, he opens your door into your room and gestures for you to get the fuck out. You rush to your car and speed off to your destination with many swords, and other sharp objects, in the trunk.

Bro makes you share a car with him, most likely to be one of the reasons you haven’t immediately moved out to escape his abuse. Oh, you didn’t mention that? Well, now it’s on the table, and everyone can see it. You probably shouldn’t be taking it so lightly, but you try not to think about it right now. You're about to start work, so it’d be nice to forget about that for as long as you can. While you were running out of the apartment to possibly avoid him, he handed you a picture of Karkat Vantas. You glance at it in one of the cup holders every now and again, transferring how he looked into your brain.

He looks… attractive? He has a round face you want to do that weird thing grandmas do to your cheeks to, and short nubby horns you can barely see through that goddamn bedhead. Does his hair always look like that? Oh, and a scowl. You can almost hear him growl through the picture. Or some weird troll noise that they might make when they’re angry. Yeah, sure, you can definitely see it.. Wait, no. you definitely can’t. You’re not gay right? You mean, then again, you kind of did admit to the fact he’s attractive. (and just went on a rant about his appearance) But, people can say that. It’s just a fact. It doesn’t mean that you’re attracted to him, you think. And even if you were, you couldn’t do anything about it. Bro would definitely kick your ass for it if he found out. You don't wanna make your situation worse. You'd like to stay alive until you can finally find a place to live, thank you very much. Oh, wait, you should probably pay attention to the road.

Next topic, you still haven't met your soulmate. Apparently, the first thing your soulmate will say to you is, “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU SACK OF NOOK DRAINING HOOFBEAST SHIT?”

Well, that’s definitely colorful language. Also, judging from the use of troll terminology, you can see they’re most likely a troll. Ever since it showed up on your skin, you’ve wondered many things about this mysterious damsel. That is if they are female. You hope they are. Not because you've got anything against homosexuals, though. You’re straight. Straight up heterosexual. Straight as a rod. Like a piece of spaghetti that can’t ever be boiled, just break apart into a bunch of little straight uncooked spaghetti babies. N o t h o m o s e x u a l

  
Totally.

* * *

 

You’ve now arrived at where Bro texted you to be earlier. You put the picture of Karkat in your hoodie pocket as you step out of the car. Right now, you’re in some wooded area adjacent to a… park? Usually, you go to a more private place if it’s not an undercover type of thing. So, it's weird to be in such a normally public setting, but this is probably to test you.

The woods you’re in right now wrap around the park, save for a path that leads out of it. You throw your hood over your head and grab your sword, some backup weapons, and other miscellaneous items that you may need. You attach them to your belt, and cover them with your kinda long jacket. You start making your way out towards the park, only stopping when you can hear people talking. By then, you’re already pretty close. So, you quickly, and silently, close the distance and climb a tree to get a better view.

“How has your plan gone as of now? I assume Gamzee accepted?” says a female troll who’s sitting on a bench, both eating something, with Karkat.  
“Yeah, me too, but he fucking turned me down. He’s still confused on why I need to somehow get away from this shithole, because apparently, he can’t get his moronic clown head around the fact that I can’t keep just barely escaping from everyone trying to kill me! I don’t even care where I go, or who it’s with, just if they think they got me, and finally shaved off the descendant of the motherfucking Signless, then maybe, just maybe, we’ll have some kind of chance. And no, I still don’t plan on going back. I know they’ll just keep trying to catch me.”  
The female troll starts calming Karkat down in that weird way moirails do. You honestly know nothing about quadrants. Is moirail even the right term for that? Whatever, it's not really important.  
You watch the two interact, but they don’t really say anything important, or about said ‘plan’. They talk to each other for about 25 minutes, until when the female troll gets up.  
“I believe I have to be leaving now, my apologies. I’ll message you later, maybe to talk of other people who could take you in. Would you like me to drive you home?”  
“I appreciate the offer, but I spent my money on this shit, and I’m going to fucking eat it. And, I don’t live too far away, I’m perfectly fine with walking. That's why I'm here in the first place. See you later, Kanaya,” he responds, quickly stuffing more food in his mouth.  
She quietly chuckles at him, saying goodbye to him while elegantly walking away.  
It's almost time. Just gotta hope Vantas doesn’t leave yet.

After a minute or two, Karkat hasn’t moved at all. Right now, he looks like he’s texting someone. You take a deep breath and grab a branch right next to you. If you’re gonna jump down from here, you might as well do it in style. You swing off of the branch under you and hop right behind Karkat. You quickly put a hand over his mouth, and drag him off the bench, and back into the woods. Just like a classic kidnapper. A feeling of guilt flows through you. Which is… weird. You’ve taught yourself not to feel guilty about these things, but somehow you still felt it. Well, whatever. Maybe it’s just because there’s a chance he didn’t do anything? And if he did do it, it wasn’t at all worthy of assassination in your opinion.

“‘Sup,” you say. Wow, good going Dave. What a normal thing to say right before you kill someone. Speaking of which, you unsheath your sword and put it in view so he can see it. He bites your hand, but it’s ineffective! That’s because you were actually smart and stole some of your bro’s leather fingerless gloves. They’re actually kinda thick, so you can barely feel his sharp teeth. Then again, they are pretty dull in comparison to most trolls. Especially to Kanaya’s.

Instead of screaming like you would have if you weren’t prepared, you position your sword higher, turning it so the sharper side faces him.

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU SACK OF NOOK DRAINING HOOFBEAST SHIT?” He yells at you. You had taken your hand away a bit to hear him since he wasn’t screaming. You-

Wait.

What did he just say?

Well, that’s not important right now. You can think about that later.  
“I... uh,” you start. Wow, you’re just amazing at speaking right now.  
“What now, bulge fondler? You know what? I don’t care anymore. If she wants to keep sending you guys, then I might as well let her kill me. I know it’s going to happen eventually, so just do it.”  
Normally your bro would tell you to take this chance and just kill him. But.. you hesitate. You don’t actually want to kill him. You never did, to begin with. Didn’t he say something about needing to get away from where he was? You live a good distance away, and bro isn’t usually home unless you have a job you have to do, which you always know beforehand. Maybe you can take him in? Wait, that’s a stupid decision, but it doesn’t hurt to try right? If he doesn’t accept, you’ll just let him leave, and deal with whatever Bro does to you. You’ve taken it for basically all your life, what’s so different now?

Woah, what the fuck? He’s a complete stranger, and you’re already willing to take one of Bro’s punishments for him. You’ll also wonder about that later.  
“I,” you drop your sword, and take your hand fully away from him, “uh, so, I heard your conversation with the other troll, and-”  
Oh god, you can’t believe you’re doing this.  
“I know it’s weird and all, but I could totally take you in, for a bit,” you finally force out. By then, he had turned around, face going from surprise, to a scowl, and to a mixture of surprise and confusion.  
“I… what? What the fuck? Usually, I’d flip you off, and fuck right out of these shitty woods if I wasn’t so desperate. I’m pretty fucking sure I have absolutely zero options by now, so sure. I give basically no shits anymore, and even if you decide to kill me or something, I don’t care. Just, do whatever,” he says, or, well, yells, his face going back to a scowl. Is that just his basic expression? Also, he just accepted to come with you, didn’t he? You weren’t really expecting that.  
“Wait, really? Are you sure about that? Like, super sure? I mean, I just offered you to stay at my house. You gotta be, like, at least 75 percent sure. Tier 5 sure. I don’t even know how high that is, but it’s pretty fucking sure.”  
“Will you shut your ignorance tunnel? Yes, I’m sure. Now if you’re going to let me stay at your hive, take me already. I don’t really have anything to get, so we might as well go,” he responds, rolling his eyes. You still can’t believe anything that’s happening right now is real, so you just nod and lead him back to your vehicle.  
While driving back, you go over in your head what happened, delicately skipping over the fact he said exactly what your soulmark is, and that him being your soulmate could explain why you were so quick to bring him in, and why he was so prone to accept. Yeah, you’re not going to think about that right now.

But really, what the fuck is going on?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALLY WROTE IT IM SO SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT,, 
> 
> LET ME KNOW HOW IT IS AND YOUR PREDICTIONS N CRITIQUES I PROBABLY NEED EM  
> THANKS FOR READING

Your name is still Dave Strider and you’ve just arrived to your apartment. The ride there was pretty silent. Karkat mainly texted someone, while you snuck glances over at him, taking his appearance in. God, you need to be stopped.  
Wait… you forgot to mention Bro to him. Well, if he’s not there, you won't need to say anything yet. You’re not used to speaking a lot about him to people, so it seems like a good idea to think of what you should say. Actually, it may not be good to bring him in if he’s there. Maybe you should check.  
“Yo,” you say to him, getting his attention, “I’ll be right back, so stay here. I’ll let you know when you can come in.”  
You quickly abscond into the complex without waiting for a response, rushing up the stairs to your floor. You quickly grab around your pockets for the keys, almost dropping them as you try to unlock the door. You silently sneak around the house and after a while of searching, you find that he isn’t in sight at all. Bro’s almost never home, so you’re not that surprised.  
You return to your car and knock on the passenger door. Karkat gets out, then demands, “ok, what the fuck was that? Why’d you just leap out and scuttle away like a wiggler who just ingested sopor for the first time?”  
You don’t think you can try answering that right now, so you glance away behind your shades, shrug, and start walking back to the apartment, Karkat following close behind with a face that screams with unsureness.

“So, where am I going to stay?” He asks when you let him through the door. He kicks one of Bro’s smuppets out of his way.  
Oh shit, you actually didn’t think about that. You look around, hoping that maybe a secret guest room will just appear out of nowhere. The only bedroom is yours, due to the fact that Bro sleeps on a futon that’s technically in the living room. Also, the only bed is yours. Goddamnit. Well, sleeping on the floor isn’t all too bad-  
“You know, it’s not that fucking crazy to sleep in the same bed as someone, right? I’m fine with it you abhorrent bulge biting grub,” your stomach flips once he utters the word ‘bed’ and- oh, you must’ve been talking out loud again. That’s something you accidentally do sometimes, but not often. Typically only when you’re caught off guard. You really need to work on that.  
“Oh, uh, ok. Cool,” you blurt out, like a fuckin fool. 3 points so far for the absolutely astounding conversation skills you have. You check your phone and see it’s actually pretty late, at least enough for the sun to fully set. When were you sent out? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. You tell Karkat he can go fuck around in your room, as long as he doesn’t break anything. He rolls his eyes and does exactly that, most likely saying something about the amazing host skills you have. Maybe you should talk to Rose about all this. You need someone smart to help you get through such hard soulmate bullshit before you do something idiotic and problematic. She’ll probably figure out something’s up eventually. You decide to pester her, leaning against a wall.

\-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] --

TG: yo rose  
TG: guess what  
TT: Hello Dave.  
TT: What would it be that I should be guessing?  
TG: im actually going to you for advice  
TG: kinda  
TT: Oh really? I must say, Dave, I’m worried as to what this will be about. This ‘asking for advice all on your own’ behavior is quite peculiar coming from you, so it must be serious.  
TG: ok  
TG: usually id take that sarcasm bait but i dont really wanna get distracted right now  
TG: uhh  
TG: i guess ill start from the beginning  
TG: so i got my first alone assignment today  
TG: and theyre this troll who needed to be killed for a couple of stupid reasons  
TG: i heard them say they needed to get away from the area and stay with someone  
TG: and for some reason i felt i should take him in and now hes in my house  
TG: so im not sure what the fuck is going on right now  
TG: plz help  
TG: and also wow this is starting to sound even worse when i type it out  
TT: Yes, it does sound particularly uncalled for. Though, you admit that you felt the need to help him? I’m assuming it would be akin to impulse. And he also accepted such an offer from someone who would be seen as untrustworthy for a number of reasons. I’m sure you can understand the fact this isn’t necessarily something anyone sane would do.  
TT: Is there anything you failed to mention that could possibly correspond to the many ways this strange world offers certain entities to act this way towards another? I don’t personally believe I'm one to jump to conclusions, but it is definitely a possibility.  
TG: rose lalonde  
TG: are you really taking this vulnerable time in my life to accuse me of being gay right now  
TG: of being not straight?  
TG: because i can assure you how homosexual i am is an ungodly amount  
TG: no hetero god will ever be able to compete with me  
TG: ever  
TT: Ahem.  
TT: David Elizabeth Strider.  
TG: oh come on dont bring the middle name into this  
TG: my names not even david this isnt fair i didnt do that to you did i  
TT: Will you please look back and reread what you just typed out to me? I believe something you wrote is surprisingly contradictory to your proclaimed ‘straightness’.  
TG: i  
TG: what  
TG: oh god pretend i didnt write that im not even sure how that happened  
TT: Huh, so far you haven’t fully disagreed with that statement. Interesting. What are you hiding from me now, Dave?  
TG: ok no im not going over this again im way too fucking tired for that  
TG: to answer your question that was actually important  
TG: yeah what he said to me were the exact words on my soulmark  
TG: and now im confused i thought i was supposed to be straight but no the universe just had to fuck me over by forcing me to be possible soulmates with a strangely attractive male troll that i dont think even likes me  
TG: i think the world really is fucking me over  
TT: To be fully honest, already there’s barely any chance that this said ‘strangely attractive male’ troll is not your soulmate. As far as I know, the sentence he would have spoken isn’t necessarily the most common saying. You should not immediately talk to him about it. I believe you should only focus on taking care of him right now.  
TT: Also, I believe it would be of the wiser to actually get to know him before trying to do anything within the soulmate sort. I do realize how badly you typically make a fool of yourself.  
TT: Though I actually have to be leaving now, so I’d like you to let me know more of your situation later on. Good night, Dave.  
TT: Also, just so you’re aware, I will absolutely be using your many Freudian slips for later use. Take care.

\-- tentacleTherapist ceased pestering turntechGodhead --

Well, you guess that gave you some closure. Although you still insist that you’re not gay. I mean, there’s got to be some way he isn’t actually your soulmate. You place ‘look if there are any times soulmarks are incorrect’ into your mental to-do list. But, that’s not what’s important right now. Actually, you forgot you just left Karkat to rot in your room. Whoops.  
You return to your room to see that he’s already fast asleep. He actually looks kind of cute while asleep. It’s actually pleasing to see him calm for once instead of his normal state. Which basically makes talking to him like putting a match an inch away from a firecracker. Or, really, lighting anything in your kitchen. You stand there for a minute, admiring his appearance before you realize- wOAH WOAH WOAH Dave. Hold the fuck up and stop such homosexual thoughts. This is getting too far for your own future good.  
You’ll probably have to wake up before him to assure nothing happens, so you decide to get into your bed next to him, keeping your distance with your back turned away from his. You dip into unconsciousness after a few minutes, going over what happened earlier, and planning what to do next. You also cross your fingers that you’ve stopped basically spooning anybody close to you with your touch starved ass.

 

* * *

 

  
Your name is Karkat Vantas and you might’ve just made the worst idea in your worthless, mutant blooded existence. For some damn reason, you decided it’d be reasonable to have some stranger let you stay with them. Not only have you never seen this guy before, but he’s also tried to cull you. Even though you told yourself you’d escape as soon as you got the chance after accepting, something in your nugbone kept telling you to stay. Actually, that little voice is why you’re here right now, in Dave’s bed. Though, you’re only listening because this is definitely the more reasonable choice.

You wake up to an immense feeling of warmth on your back and quickly open your glance nuggets. Looking down, you can see Strider’s arms wrapped around your middle. Adding to that, you could also feel his face snuggled in your hair. What the fuck? Why did this pompous nook fucker think he could just pull a move like that? Although, for some reason, you’re almost kind of okay with it. Almost. Shut up. You lean into him a bit, but quickly decide if he wakes up he might think you’re a creep. (AND THE FACT YOU’RE MOST DEFINITELY NOT OKAY WITH THIS.) Then again, that’d be a bit hypocritical due to the situation he put you in right now. You try to squirm away from his grip- you’re able to pry his arms off and scoot up about an inch- but he wraps himself around you and pulls you back, holding you tighter, although you can tell he’s still asleep. You sigh in utter defeat and try to fall into a slumber. That is until you realize you can see grey, capitalized letters on his wrist. The same way you type on your preferred chat client Trollian. Curious, you carefully push his sleeve back, revealing his soulmark. On it reads the first sentence you ever spoke to him, “WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU SACK OF NOOK DRAINING HOOFBEAST SHIT?”  
Oh shit...  
So, he’s your soulmate? How? Actually, wait.  
That… pretty much explains many of the weird things you’ve been feeling. And the reason you haven’t immediately run out of his hive yet.  
Though, that does raise a lot of questions. All of them fighting for you to try and answer at once.  
First of all, do you even want him to be your soulmate?  
Well, the short answer is: you don’t know. And how would you? You’ve known him for only about an hour or two (not counting you sleeping).  
Second, does he even like you?  
Once again, you aren’t sure. But, probably not. And- wait, why do you care? So far you fucking abhor this weird creep and you’re only in this human bed with him right now because you have no other choice. There could be a chance that you two aren’t made to be, like one of your romcoms, and it's just your stupid grubfucking teen hormones still leaking into your newly adult age. Hopefully.

Though you most likely won’t be able to, you close your lookstubs and try to fall into what you hope will be a comatose, recovering his wrist.

* * *

  
Your name is Dave Strider, once again, and you wake up in a bed only occupied by yourself. On any other day, this would be perfectly fine. Today, though, is different.  
Everything bad that might happen to Karkat if he’s left alone in your apartment filter through your concerned brain. You practically jump out of bed when you hear a loud thump outside your room, followed by a muffled curse. You throw open your door with anxiety, and a bit too aggressively, to accidentally hit Karkat square in the face. Okay, maybe more than a bit.  
“What the nook-chafing fuck?!” He yells at you while checking his face for damage.  
“Oh shit, I’m sorry dude. Are you alright?”  
“Fuck no! Of course I’m not alright you shit grating spinal crevice,” he probably said more, but you quickly push past him and run into the kitchen. Last time you got the guts to check, there thankfully weren’t any swords for once in the freezer side of your fridge. This time there still wasn’t. You take an ice pack you stored in there and return to the shouty troll.  
“Here,” you offer the ice to him, depleting his glare some. He places it to his nose as you usher him into your room.  
“Oh, and I’m really sorry about that,” you apologize.  
“It’s fine. I've had worse,” he responds, looking away from you, brows furrowed, wincing at what is most likely some memory. Oh. Maybe now would be a good time to change the subject.

You somehow managed to actually have a conversation with Karkat. You also learn you both personally know Egbert and go on for a while about how absolutely dorky he is.  
Even though you two didn’t necessarily have the best start, and he might hate you(you really don't know at this point), but you relish in the fact that you’d made him laugh a total of 4 times after 25 minutes. That’s not weird, right?

“Y’know, I've seen one or two things about troll quadrants. And I must say, you really know how to make a lady swoon with all these blatant black feelings you’re havin’ over me,” you say as you fan yourself with one hand, exaggerating your slight southern accent. Yup, you got ‘em. You can see him get flustered a bit, in a red that seems abnormal, but now’s not really the time be thinking of that.  
“Fuck off! You must know nothing of troll romance if you believe such obvious platonic dislike is black flirting in any fucking way.” He says as he, what you assume to be, jokingly slaps the side of your face. Which leads to his claws accidentally hooking onto your shades, making them fall off your face and onto the ground, revealing your bright red eyes. Oh fuck.  
You kind of just stand there, mentally floundering about, not sure what to do. You feel frozen in place, and it's starting to get uncomfortable after about half a minute of staring at each other. You never really noticed the fact his eyes were the same exact red as yours. Now his more human-like blush made a whole lot of more sense. Wasn’t that weird for trolls or something? You don’t really have any troll friends at all, but from the ones you’ve come across since the first batch of them freshly arrived from one of their huge, threatening ships, you’ve never seen this blood color. Yeah, you know there are burgundybloods, but it’s quite obvious he’s not one. Is that even a color they normally are? You.. kind of like them. In your honest opinion, you find them almost… beautiful. Actually, now that you think about it… Fuckfuckfuck wait no youaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgayyouaren’tgay-  
You realize you’ve zoned out when you feel a sharp claw prod your arm. You blink a few times, realizing he’s handing you your sunglasses. You retrieve and put them back on, filling your lost easy conversation with an awkward silence. Guess it’s time to change subject, once again. Maybe you should bring up something important now.  
“Hey, uhh, it’d probably be a good idea if you don’t leave this room too often,” the troll opens his mouth, but you shush him to allow you to continue, knowing he’ll most likely take it the wrong way without elaboration. “Or, really, try to leave this house a lot. ‘Cause my brother-” you get cut off by something. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Vantas, but a loud ‘thwack’ that came from just outside your room.  
You don’t even have to look outside your door to know it’s an invitation to a strife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was going to do the pesterlog stuff but i might do that later  
> if theres mistakes point em out and ill fix em tomorrow or whenever
> 
> also get ready for for next chapter cause were gonna take a train to maybe violence town well see tho i might avoid it??? not sure


End file.
